Mar 11, 2008

John Webster, the recently deceased British copywriter--and one of advertising's greats alongside Abbott, Hegarty, and Saatchi--penned this script for The Guardiannewspaper in 1986.

'Point Of View' is a masterpiece of economical writing, pacing and execution. At first we think the skinhead is out to rob the businessman, but confounding stereotypes we see him save a life.

More than twenty years later I can still recall from memory the copy delivered in the resonant tones of Sir Ian Holm:

"An event seen from one point of view gives one impression.

Seen from another point of view it gives quite a different impression.

But it's only when you get the whole picture you can fully understand what's going on."

That's not an ad, that's a life lesson; indeed so compelling was this commercial that it was shown in court by a defendant who claimed the witness had only a narrow view of the crime he was being charged with and thus not in command of all the facts.

Mar 03, 2008

In Stephen King’s wonderful short book "On Writing: A Memoir of The Craft"––in this writer’s opinion the most accessible how-to book on creative writing––he describes exactly how as a struggling writer he came up with the idea for "Carrie."

“One day while I was working at the laundry, I started seeing the opening scene of a story: girls showering in a locker room…and this one girl starts to have her period. Only she doesn’t know what it is, and the other girls––grossed out, horrified, amused––start pelting her with sanitary napkins. The girls begin to scream. All that blood! She thinks she’s dying and the other girls are making fun of her even while she’s bleeding to death…she reacts…fights back…but how?”

He continues…

“I’d read an article in Life magazine some years before, suggesting that at least some reported poltergeist activity might actually be telekinetic phenomena. There was some evidence to suggest that young people might have such powers, the article said, especially in girls in early adolescence, right around the time of their first––Pow! Two unrelated ideas, adolescent cruelty and telekinesis came together, and I had an idea.

The next night when I came home my wife Tabby had the pages in her hands. “You’ve got something here,” she said. “I really think you do.”

It was his first blockbuster.

All knowledge is connected to all other knowledge; King's genius is in making the connection. He knows that new ideas are combinations of existing ideas: one plus one equals three.

Feb 22, 2008

William Goldman––screenwriter of "Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid," "Marathon Man," and "All the President's Men"––was once asked how to write a screenplay. It's easy, he answered, you just put a sheet of paper into a typewriter and type Fade In.

Yep, that is true, but before you waste six months of your life trying to write the next Butch, you need to ask yourself one question punk: Do you have a hook?

Here, courtesy of Alex Epstein, author of Crafty Screenwriting (the best how-to book I've read, and I've read them all) an explanation of The Hook:

A hook is the concept of the picture in a nutshell. Not just any concept. A hook is a fresh idea for a story that instantly makes show business people interested in reading your script, and then makes the audience want to see your movie.

So let's play guess the movie from the hook:

(A) A man is about to commit suicide when an angel shows him what his town would be like if he had never lived.

(B) Two people who hate each other write each other anonymously and fall in love.

(C) A bunch of unemployed Brits decide to put on a striptease act to earn some money.

(D) Three filmmakers went into the woods to tape a documentary on a legendary witch. These are the tapes we found after they disappeared.

(E) A puppeteer finds a secret tunnel into John Malkovich's brain. (That's a gimme.)

(F) There's a bomb on a crowded city bus. If the bus slows below 50 miles an hour, the bomb will go off.

(G) A man discovers he has been replaced by his clone.

(H) A journalist finds a heart wrenching love letter in a bottle. She tracks down the man who wrote it, and falls in love with him.

(I) An eccentric scientist recreates dinosaurs from fossilized DNA and opens a theme park. They run amok.

Answers:

(A) It's a Wonderful Life

(B) The Shop Around the Corner, You've Got Mail

(C) The Full Monty(D) The Blair Witch Project(E) Being John Malkovich(F) Speed(G) The Sixth Day(H) Message In A Bottle(I) If you need the answer to this one you're in the wrong class.